Container closure



March 22, 1932. BREWER CONTAINER CLOSURE Filed Feb. 21, 1930 Patented 1932 UNITED STATES PATENT, OFFICE:

, ELLIOTT BREWER, 8'1. 'IDAVIDS, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR 'I'O DRINKING CUP COMPANY, INC, 01 EASION, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION PENNSYLVANIA CON'I'AINER CLOSURE Application flied February 21, 1880. Serial No. 480,392.

The object of the invention is to provide improvements in closures for certain types of containers and particularly when their contents comprise ice cream, cottage cheese,

I butter and such products, or in fact any other articles of similar consistency, such improvements to relate especially to providing means whereby advertislng and other matter of any kind may be printed by any suitable repro- 10 ducing process on the under side of said closure in combination with means that will prevent contact between said printed surface and the contents of the container.

During the past few years it has become increasingly customary to handle large quantit-ies of retail ice cream, for instance, in paper cups having an open upper end substantially or entirely the full width'of the top of the cup, said opening being spanned by a disc closure formed of cardboard or the like to protect the contents, and removable to expose the contents by merely gripping manually an integral tab extension, or other portion of, or device secured to, such disc.

These closure discs have heretofore carried advertising matter, or at least the name of the ice cream manufacturer, upon their upper surfaces, and an object is to successfully provide other matter such as additional advertising or the pictures of birds, animals,

. \persons, places or things, lithographically or otherwise reproduced, upon the normal under side of such discs. However, it was realized from the first that it would be highly objectionable to permit ink, dye, paint, or the like, upon said discs to come into direct contact with the ice cream (which is herein referred v to as representative of all such articles for which this invention is adapted), though it is largely the adhesion of the disc to the ice cream which retains the former in operative position as an effective closure.

Another object of the invention has therefore been to provide, as an article of manufacture. a compound closure disc which can be used for the purpose described, bearing various forms of pictorial or other reproductions upon its normal under side, and covered upon such under side with a suitable protective medium such as cellulose ester products,

.cream while in use, and from being soiled prior to its application to the container.

A further object is to provide an improved form of adhesive for securing the protective medium to the cap (when a separate adhesive 1s used), that is, an adhesive which will not cause a sheet of caps when it is applied thereto during the manufacturing process to warp or buckle out of its original charac.-

teristic planular shape, and which will to all intents and purposes cause a positive adherence of said medium to said ca during handling until afiixed to a container, but which medium will thereafter adhere more positively to the ice cream contents of said container than to the cap, thereby permitting the cap to be peeled or otherwise withdrawn from both container and protective medium without injury to either, after which said medium can be withdrawn from the contents of said container.

With these and other objects in mind the present invention comprises further details of construction and operation, which are fully brought out in the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is an enlarged perspective vie.v of an individual compound closure'disc embodying the present invention; Fig. 2 is a diametrical section of the same; Fig. 3 is a vertical section through a container filled with ice cream or similar contents and with the improved closure disc shown in exaggerated thickness; and Fig. 4 is a similar section through the upper fragmentary portion of the same c0n-' ta1ner,.showing the printed disc partly removed and the protective medium still in operative position with respect to the container contents.

I Referring to the drawings, there is here shown a closure disc for containers, comprising one embodiment of the present invention. Preferably, this closure comprises a disc of cardboard or relatively stiff paper 5, which may be printed upon both its upper and lower surfaces with any desired type or arrangement of advertising matter, pictorial or other representations, or in fact any other form of indicia. The disc 5 is preferably provided at one point of its circumference with a radially extending tab 6, for a purpose hereinafter described.

-. by means of a suitable adhesive a protective medium 9, which may in practice comprise a disc of paraffin paper, but might equally well comprise a sheet of a cellulose ester product, pyroxylin, cellophane, or similar products, as hereinbefore referred to.

This protective medium likewise comprises a radially extending tab 10, which is originally secured to the under side of the tab 6, and this intimate relation between the disc and protective medium obtains until the compound unit closure is applied in the usual manner to a cup-like or other container 11, shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

In the use of this improved compound closure disc the major portion thereof is inserted in the upper open end portion of the container until its peripheral edge rests either in the usual supporting groove 12 of said container, or directly upon the contents 13 of the latter. In using this closure disc upon containers having ice cream and similar articles, the lower element or protective medium of the disc rests directly upon and in intimate contact with said contents, while said tabs 6 and 10 are directed upwardly by engagement with the side wall 14 of said container, said tabs usually becoming loosened one from another as they are thus deflected upwardly. 'With the closure and tabs in the from the container entirely free from, and 7 clean as far as carrying any portion of the contents of, the container, so that children can immediately place such elements in their pockets or "otherwise handle or play with them without fear of their being contaminated, or the slightest chance of subjecting them to the otherwise possible transfer of disease. On the other hand, the lower protective element 9 upon being removed from the container contents, being of no particular value, is immediately thrown away or destroyed, It will also be noted that substantially the same advantageous result may be attained whether or not the disc element 5 is itself coated with paraffin or the like, but the satisfactoryprovision of the protective element or medium 9 upon said normal under surface of said first element at once makes possible the use of said under surface for carrying an infinite number of different kinds of indicia.

In order to temporarily affix the elements 5 and 9 together, in order that they will re--' main intimately associated while being shipped, handled and finally aflixed to con-' tainers, but special adhesive has had to be designed, comprising approximately 20% glycerin, although a somewhat larger or small proportion of glycerin may be employed with varying degrees of success. As a result of using this particular adhesive, although said elements havethus far remained in attached relation. the element 5 is easily raised and peeled from the lower element as shown in Fig. 4, due to the fact that said lower element is usually held more firmly by adhesion to the container contents than it adheres to said upper element. It is to be understood however that both of these elements may be peeled from said container contents if desired and then separated by peeling one from the other with the same resulting effect, namely, the preservation of the clean characterof the normal under side of the upper element.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. A closure for containers, comprising a flexible disc, a partly transparent medium, and means to temporarily secure said medium to said disc, and permit said disc to be peeled from said medium against less adhesive attraction than normally exists between said medium and the contents of a container to which said closure is applied.

2. VA closure for containers, comprising a flexible relatively heavy paper disc, a disc of paraffin paper, and. an adhesive possessing such characteristics as to temporarily secure said discs together while being handled but permit the first disc to be separated from the second after the closure has been once operatively positioned.

3. A closure for containers, comprising a disc having a radial extension, a protective medium also havin a radial extension, and ineans to temporari y secure said medium to said disc while being handled, the first disc being separated from the second by manual engagement with the extension of said first disc, and said medium then being separable front the contents of a container by manual engagement with its extension.

4. A closure for containers, comprising a disc, a protective medium, and means to temporarily secure said medium to said disc while being handled, the first disc being separated from the second by manual engagement with an edge portion of the first, and said medium then being separable from the contents of a container by similar manual engagement with one of its edge portions.

5. A closure for containers, comprising a disc printed upon its normal under side, and a separable covering of protective material insecurely fastened over and adapted to be peeled from the printed surface, after having been employed to protect said surface from the contents of a container, and vice versa.

6. A container cap intended to be preserved after use, comprising a disc bearing on its under face matter to be displayed when the ca is removed from the container, and a separaible covering. for said under face having slight facial adherence therewith to be carried thereby but easily stripped therefrom to free the disc from the covering and any soiling contents of the container thereon to leave the disc clean. 7. A container cap intended to be preserved after use, comprisingan imperforate disc bearing on its under face matter to be displayed when the cap is removed from the container, and a separable covering for said under face temporarily secured to the disc to be carried thereby but easily detached therefrom to free the disc from the covering and any soiling contents of the container thereon to leave the disc clean.

8. A'container cap intended to be preserved after use comprising a disc bearing on its under face matter to be displayed when the cap is removed, and a separable covering for said under face having slight facial adherence therewith to be carried thereby but permitting easy separation of the disc and covering, said disc and covering being of flexible material whereby one may be flexed with reference to the other to facilitate stripping of one from the other.

9. A container cap intended to be preserved after use, comprising a disc bearing on its under face matter to be displayed when the cap is removed and a temporary covering for said under face having slight facial adherence with the disc to be carried thereby but easily stripped therefrom to free the disc, the disc beingflexible, and the disc and covering both having tabs whereby the disc may be stripped from the covering in removal from the container, leaving the covering for subsequent removal.

10. A container cap intended to be preserved after use, comprising two parts one a closure disc bearing on its under face matter to bedisplayed when the cap is removed, and the other a separately formed covering forthe under face of the disc, the disc and covering being temporarily secured together to present a unitary cap structure but whereby they may be easily separated without impairment of the disc to entirely free the disc from the covering and any soiling contents of the container thereon to leave the disc clean.

In testimony whereof I have affixed my sig' ELLIOTT BREWER.

nature. 

